Thunderbirds Are Go! - The Halloween Collection 2017 Edition
by homel001
Summary: The Tracy family share six stories of their encounters with creatures, spirits, UFO's, killer scarecrows and Obsessive madmen. Rated T
1. Creature In The Mine by Virgil Tracy

**Thunderbirds Are Go**

 **The Halloween Collection (2017 edition)**

 **by Lee Homer**

 **Disclaimer: All rights reserved. May contain dark situations so this will be rated, T**

The Creature In The Mine

Told by Virgil Tracy

I can remember a time that Scott and I can hardly forget. It was a bizarre and yet terrifying encounter we had ever faced... unless you count Scott's encounter with the Goatman. It started off as a standard rescue operation. John and picked up a series of frantic distress calls which worried him. They had been coming from an old gold mine that was situated in the heart of rural Texas. Scott and myself, didn't seem to be alarmed at the time and that was because we had dealt with scrambled distress calls many times before. After assembling the equipment that we needed, we took off in our Thunderbirds and headed for the scene.

When we touched down, I was quick to notice just at how desolate the area really was. There was no sign of anyone around the mine entrance, only what appeared to be the remains of an all-terrain vehicle. It had been seriously damaged with its engine spitting out smoke. Scott set his Thunderbird down and decided to check it out. I landed behind him and left my craft to investigate. As I approached the vehicle, Scott threw a look at me of confusion.

"Virgil, take a look at this." he said as he beckoned me over to the passenger 's side.

I could see why he was confused. The Door had three giant claw marks down its side. Seriously, they were huge. There was no way that any person could create them. If it were an animal, it would have had to have been bigger than a bear. Scott tried to debunk them, but I knew that there was no animal in the area that could do this.

"Scott, We could be dealing with something that's beyond our control. I suggest we report this to the GDF."

"What would we tell them?" He countered. "That an unusually large bear has attacked a car and chase a group of people into the mine?"

"It's not a bear. It's something more than that." I replied. I was trying hard not to get annoyed with my brother.

As I tried to reason with him, then the sound of multiple cries caught our attention. They echoed from within the mine. Focusing my instincts on the rescue, I raced back to deploy our Pod launcher. However, Scott dampened my hopes of finding them swiftly.

"Scott, to Virgil. We have a situation. Brains has just informed me that the structure of the Mine is unstable. We can't risk using the pod explorer."

"Then what else are we supposed to do?" I replied, predicting what he was going to suggest. "You don't suggest that we go in on foot, do you?"

"Well..." he said with a false sense of enthusiasm. "We might have to."

A short while later, we entered the mine, fully equipped with industrial torches and cutting equipment. The darkness was so thick that you could cut through it with a buzz saw. Water dripped from the roof, rats crawled along the muddy floor. It was disgusting. Even with our headgear on, you could smell the foul odors. It was if something had been rotting down here for years. As we made our way towards the first compartment, Scott decided to call out into the darkness. His voice reverberated off the walls. I shone my flashlight about and spotted three separate tunnels that joint to this major compartment which we were standing in. As expected with an old mine, the walkways have been left to rot with old broken mining equipment strewn about the place. The screams came again only this time they were louder than before. Scott quickly picked up on the direction and instant led the way.

"They're this way." He said as he called out to them. "Hold tight. We're from International Rescue. Keep calling out and we'll find you!"

The screams continued. As they grew louder, we grew closer. However, something didn't feel right and I mean it didn't feel right at all. My stomach started to feel queasy and the hairs began to stand up on the back of my head. I suddenly became aware of the fact that we were being watched. Scott stopped in his tracks. Something caught his attention, only I couldn't see or hear anything. He looked at me and noted my uneasy expression.

"I feel the same way too." He said as he opened his comms device. "The screams have stopped. They could be anywhere and we wouldn't know without getting lost ourselves. Maybe we could get some help above. John, are you there? John, come in. Come in Thunderbird Five!?"

Unfortunately, we only received distorted static. We were on our own down here.

"We must be far too far down for the others to register us," I said. "That's just what we want."

"We'll just have to press on," Scott replied, defiantly. "If there are people trapped down here, we're sure to find them eventually."

Oh was he wrong. As we continued, we could both feel a faint buzzing sensation that traveled across the walls. It grew stronger within each passing second. I couldn't speak for my brother, but my instincts were telling to run at this point. I'm not one to be afraid of the unknown, but after our encounter with the Goatman last year, my mind has seriously opened up to these things. I was now more susceptible to fear than ever before. That's when we heard a growl. A deep, thundering, skin piercing growl. Something was down here with us and it was pissed. A figure then lunged out at us from the shadows, forcing us to jump. It was a young woman. She was terrified, streaked with blood, dirt, and tears. Her uniform had suffered some damage. She must have been about my age. She clung onto my arm as she tried to explain what had happened to her.

"Please! You... you've got to get me out of here before... before it knows where I am!" She cried.

I tried to make sense of her distressed state. "Take it easy, Ma'am. You're alright. We're from International Rescue. Can you tell us your name?"

"Davison... Professor Davison." She spluttered. "Look there's no time. Please, we've got to... get out of here."

Suddenly, we heard the deep demonic growl again. As the three of us turned to leave, Two bright red balls of light lit up the shaft behind us. They hovered there accompanied by the sound of snarling. I couldn't mistake those red balls of light for eyes. Whatever this thing was, it had found us.

"It's found me!" the Professor screamed. "We've got to go!"

Things began to get even crazier when a giant claw appeared from the dark and made a swipe at Scott. Those giant claws barely missed him.

"You don't have to tell me twice!" He yelled. "Quickly! This way!"

We headed back for the entrance as fast as we could. The sound of footsteps thundered behind us. The growling shortly followed. This thing was chasing us. As we made it back to the main crossway, I took the chance of looking back down the tunnel. My thoughts were soon confirmed. This thing definitely was chasing us and it was out for blood. As it slowly crept into the beam of my flashlight, it revealed itself to me. It stood on hind legs which had claws on each of its fingers and toes. Its entire body was covered in black matted fur. It didn't have a nose, but it did have two air intake holes that acted like one and they stirred the dust when it snarled. Its mouth opened, presenting an armada of razor-sharp teeth. It's inferno red eyes locked in with mine as if it was studying me. I had never seen anything like this before. In a frantic state, Scott tried to retrace our steps.

"Quickly, this way!" He shouted. "We've got to get to the surface!"

Eventually, we spotted a small beam of light which had lit up the path ahead and I was confident that it was the moonlight. I was even feeling sure that we could outrun this thing as we had put a significant amount of distance between us and it. However suddenly, the walls began to shake violently.

"Rockfall! Watch out!"

We all dived to the ground as the ceiling caved in, blocking our only exit. We were all alright, but I couldn't get over how our luck would change like that. The Professor began to panic even more.

"That's it. We'll never get out now!"

"Don't be so sure, Professor," Scott replied. "We don't give up easily."

A small ray of light appeared from above us. We couldn't believe it. The rockfall had given us another escape route. Scott aimed his grappling gun and fired a line. He wrapped the professor behind him.

"Once we get to the surface, I'll throw the harness down to you. We'll be as quick as we can."

"FAB," I replied calmly. "Just hurry alright?"

"Keep calm, bro. Everything will be alright."

Everything will be alright he said. I had a hard time believing that. I watched closely as Scott and the Professor made it to the surface when I felt that static sensation again. I looked over and there it was. Those pulsating red eyes had locked onto me again. Time began to slow down. Scott had thrown his grapple gun down to me and it was a moment too soon. The creature looked as if it was about to charge at me. I quickly fired a cable and began to scale the rocks towards the surface. I made it part way up when I heard the sound of crunching coming from below. I looked down to see this thing on all fours, climbing after me. Scott called down motivating me to hurry.

"Come on, Virgil! Hurry the up!"

I slowly gained my momentum when I climbed. I was determined to get away from this thing, even if it did rip one of my limbs off. It continued to growl and hiss as if my speed was pissing it off. When I pulled myself up to the surface, I threw Scott my grappling gun and ran over to him. I scooped up the professor in my arms with little thought. That's when I noticed the severity of her wounds. She had been bleeding extensively from her right shoulder and the reason for this was enough to even make the strong-stomached person, heave. This thing had taken a bite out of her shoulder. It could have been trying to eat her!

Suddenly, the creature emerged from the ground. It's silhouette basked in the moonlight. Those red eyes remained on me. I quickly put it all together. It was the professor that it was after. It tasted her blood and now it wanted the rest of her.

"Go, Scott! I'll take the Professor to Thunderbird Two!" I shouted. "It won't get to her once we're inside!"

"Bro are you crazy! You'll never make it!" Scott replied in a state of panic.

"We'll make it. Thunderbird Two is just around the corner. We've just got to make it."

Feeling determined as if there was nothing left to lose, I bolted for my Thunderbird. Logically, I must have run out of energy from that climbing, but the adrenaline had set and was doing most of the work. With Thunderbird Two now within my sights, the Professor began to sob in my arms.

"It's...behind us." She whispered.

I looked back. It was on all fours and sprinting after me. I had to pick up the speed if we were going to make it alive. I couldn't let this woman die. I couldn't let myself die. How good would that have looked on Scott's conscience? My heart felt like it was about to burst. I had pushed everything to the limit at that point. We eventually made, diving straight into the pod. Quickly setting her down, I raised the pod flaps just seconds before the creature could make another swipe at us. I threw myself back and sat there, catching my breath. It was outside the pod, trying to claw its way inside. It's menacing growl tried to intimidate us. I could have sat there forever trying to regain my strength, but my conscience was telling me to get the hell out of there.

After safely securing the Professor in the emergency winch, I sat behind the controls and blasted the hell out of there. I can't even remember if I even secured the pod probably, I was distraught and exhausted by what transpired down there. As soon as we were airborne, Scott would radio in one last time. Looking at his holo image, I could see that he had been seriously affected by all this as well. What was that thing? Where did it come from? And why was it luring inside that old Mine?

I can safely say that we've never had to return to that Mine since. Scott did file a report with the GDF but as far as we know, nothing had turned up in their investigation. The Professor went on to make a full recovery, but when I went to visit her in hospital, the doctor told me that she was going to need intensive therapy sessions. I should have gotten those too, but life in International Rescue means that I've always got to be on alert. As for that evil monster out there. I will always remember those red eyes and I hope that I will never see it again.


	2. Our First Haunted House by Kayo Kyrano

**Thunderbirds Are Go**

 **The Halloween Collection (2017 edition)**

 **by Lee Homer**

 **Disclaimer: All rights reserved. May contain dark situations so this will be rated, T**

Our First Haunted House

Told by Kayo Kyrano

It was a cold October's night in rural England when I had been out on a call. The GDF had been assisting International Rescue and needed Intel from a suspect that was involved with the situation. When these missions would occur, it was my job to go after the person in question. After spending hours on the road, I had finally completed my mission and decided that it was time to head back to my Thunderbird. I had left Thunderbird Shadow in an old abandoned farm which had been left to waste away to the elements. I chose those these locations because the chances of attracting attention were slim. It had been a quiet trip back, so much so that I thought nothing else could happen. That was until I approached the ruins of an old manor house which sat opposite the farm.

As I passed the main gates, something strange began to happen. My inbuilt comms system began to flash. I could hear multiple cries for help sound over the speaker. I could feel some sort of static electricity flood my body as I listened to them. I pulled over just as the cries began to vanish. In those few moments, I just sat there, trying to work out where those screams might have come from. I then felt compelled to look over towards the abandoned house. To my surprise, a room on the upstairs level emitted a warm, orange glow. My intuition took over by that point. The screams must have been coming from the house. I wasn't sure what to do next except treat it as a possible emergency distress call. For all I knew, there could have been people trapped inside asking for help where no one could hear them. The problem was that I didn't have the right gear to go in and investigate by myself. I quickly opened a call to base and briefly explained the situation to Scott. He said that he would send Virgil and Gordon out to accompany me to the house.

I sat there and waited for about an hour when I heard the sound of Thunderbird Two's motors. She flew right over the house and landed right next to Thunderbird Shadow. I raced on over to the big green vehicle and found Virgil and Gordon already standing there waiting for me.

"Right. We're here. What do you need?" Virgil asked.

"I saw a glow from the top window. I think we're going to need some cutting equipment." I replied.

"I'll go and grab the gear," Gordon said as he made his way into the pod.

Virgil noticed the uneasy expression on my face. He clearly needed to know more.

"What happened exactly?" He asked me.

"I was just passing the Manor house when I heard the sound of screams coming over my comms," I explained. "I don't know how to put this, but they didn't sound like ordinary screams to me. I just can't put my finger on it. Anyway, when I looked up at the house, there was a light on in one of the upstairs windows. Somebody has to be in there."

"Don't worry. We'll check it out together." Virgil assured me with a smile. He always knew when something unsettled me.

Gordon returned with the cutting gear and lead the pair to the house. We arrived at the front gate, cutting down the rusted bolts that had kept the gates locked. The light was still on in the window, re-enforcing my theory that somebody was trapped up there. Virgil took the lead and advanced towards the door which had appeared to have been boarded up. He turned to look at us.

"This doesn't make sense. If someone is up there then why were the gates locked and the doors boarded up?"

Gordon was quick to come up with an explanation. "Perhaps somebody decided to trespass and got themselves stuck? I mean if that's the case then it does serve them right."

As much as I admired Gordon's sense of humor and reasoning, both my heart and gut were telling me that he was wrong. We took a step back so Virgil could kick the door down. Using a small battering ram, Virgil was able to knock down the door with ease. We headed on inside and found ourselves in an old hallway that was covered in cobwebs. The air was thick and smelt musty. Visibility was poor due to the pitch darkness. Our voices echo throughout the many rooms that were situated on the ground floor. The main staircase appeared to be intact, but the floorboards creaked with every step, constantly putting us all on edge. Gordon looked up and spotted the same glow that we saw from outside. It was coming from one of the side rooms on the upper floor.

"Hello!" He called out. "Is anybody here? This is International Rescue!"

The next few seconds was just silence. Suddenly, a loud blood-curdling scream echoed from that upstairs room. Its cries were clear as day.

"HELP! HELP ME!"

Without a second thought, We raced up the stairs towards the room. Then things took a slightly creepier turn. As we approached the room, the light began to fade. Gordon was ahead of us and was the first to enter. He searched the now pitch black room with his flashlight. He looked at us with an expression which both gave us the creeps.

"There's nobody in here."

"Are you sure?" I asked him.

"I'm sure. There's an overturned chair, a rusted bedpost and hundreds of cobwebs."

Virgil headed on inside to see if he could find anything. Just as he did. The screams came again. This time they were coming from the kitchen. I took the lead this time but made sure that my brothers stayed close behind me. I kept my flashlight on the ground so I wouldn't trip up and hurt myself. As we got to the kitchen, we were met with the same results. It was just another empty room. Gordon kept trying to come up with a rational explanation but I wanted to call it and say that we were dealing with Ghosts. That was something that Gordon never believed in.

As I scanned the room, I saw something out of the corner of my eye that I would never forget. I saw a shadow man run across the other end of the Kitchen. It was a full solid figure that must have been at least Six feet tall. It made no noise, but it kicked up a small pocket of cool air which touched my face. Somehow though, Virgil and Gordon were unable to see it as well.

"I saw something. Somebody's in the room with us." I whispered.

"I didn't see or hear anything," Virgil replied. "Are you sure you weren't just seeing things?"

I wanted to admit that I was seeing things, but I was adamant that something or someone was moving about in the house with us.

"I don't mistake a figure when I see one," I said as I kept a cool composure. "I am a trained observer of these things. It went into that back room."

Gordon decided to big himself up in order to prove me wrong.

"I'll go and take a look." He said with a sly look on his face. "Be back in two."

We watched as he entered the back room. The darkness was able to engulf him somehow. We didn't see him turn the corner. While he was gone, Something began to draw Virgil's attention and I heard it too. It was the distinct sound of heavy boot steps, thumping along the floor above us. They were so loud that you could feel the dust trickle down from the floorboards. We both looked at each other.

"Should we go and find out what made those footsteps?" He asked me.

"Sure, but what about Gordon?" I replied.

"Oh leave him. He'll be fine." Virgil smirked. "Mister "I got this" doesn't believe in Ghosts."

It was obvious by now that this house was haunted. Now naturally, the typical thing to do was leave, but our curiosity had gotten the better of us by this point. Leaving the kitchen, we crept back out into the main hallway in an attempt to locate the sound of the footsteps. We stood there in complete silence when sure enough, the footsteps sounded again. We followed them without ears as they thumped along the upper landing. Then the footsteps began to fade just as a door slammed in one of the upper rooms. We wanted to go and investigate but we were stopped in our tracks by a series of crashing sounds which were coming from the kitchen. Gordon came barrelling out of there screaming at the top of his voice. Virgil grabbed him. He was white as a sheet. He was shaking all over and a cold sweat broke out across his face.

"What is it, Gordon?" He asked as he tried to calm his brother down. "Shh. It's okay now. Hey, it's me. It's me."

Gordon took a few moments to gather himself. "I saw something. I saw... it. Back there."

"What did you see?" I asked, stepping forward. "Gordon?"

"I saw a person sitting there in the corner of the room." He explained. "He just sat there looking at me with those eyes. Those sharp yellow eyes."

"Yellow eyes? Did this person have any other features?"

"No. It was a man alright, but it had no mouth, no nose, and no ears. Just those eyes. As I slowly backed away it ran up on me and screamed!"

"That's funny. We didn't hear a scream?" Virgil replied.

"That's because it felt like it reached into my head and screamed. It was if it was trying to attack me for my body."

I had now had enough of this. This was no longer funny. Gordon had described what could have possibly been an attack from a negative entity. It was time for us to leave before this thing could attack again. As we hurried for the front door, the sound of footsteps returned to see us out. The hammered along the floorboards behind us as if this spirit was chasing us out of the house. As soon as we stepped on the property, a huge gust of wind slammed the doors shut behind us. We ran down towards the street and looked back towards the house. I saw that shadow man again. He was staring down at me from the same upstairs window where the glow had come from. We didn't think about it and hurried back to our Thunderbirds.

Along the way, Gordon began to complain of a burning sensation and kept rubbing the side of his face. He got Virgil to shine a light on it to see if he could see anything. His face dropped. We both saw a single red scratch mark form on the side of his cheek. This entity had physically marked him and it would serve as a reminder to never go back there. That happened Three weeks ago and although his face has healed up nicely, The memories will always stay with us. Gordon learned a lesson which opened his mind, Virgil thought twice about stepping into abandoned houses and as for myself? Well, let's just say, I'll be switching my comms off from now on if I ever hear screams like that again.


	3. Chased By A Scarecrow by Gordon Tracy

**Thunderbirds Are Go**

 **The Halloween Collection (2017 edition)**

 **by Lee Homer**

 **Disclaimer: All rights reserved. May contain dark situations so this will be rated, T**

Chased by a Scarecrow

Told by Gordon Tracy

Seriously, you would not believe the kind of evening we've just had. I've been back for about an hour and I can't still work why it happened. It all happened so fast. I guess I better start at the beginning. Tonight happened to be the first night that I was allowed off seeing as all my chores on around the base had been completed, so I decided to spend it wisely and take Lady Penelope out to see a movie. Now don't go thinking that this was a date. There happened to be an exclusive screening of a movie that we both wanted to see so arranged to go, okay? The movie was being shown at a small theatre house in a small town in England. Parker picked me up from the drop point and took the pair of us over there. It was a wonderful night. The film was good, the stars were out and the locals seemed friendly enough. After the movie finished, we realized that we still had time to kill before Parker would come back and pick us up. She wanted to call him there and then but I was able to convince her to accompany me on a little stroll around the country. We didn't think that there would be anything to worry about, considering that the town was one of the safest in the country. Yeah, well looks can be deceiving can't they?

Our little tour around the town went swimmingly well until we arrived the edge of a farm. We both decided that we had walked just a little too far, so we stopped for a while to get our bearings. As I checked my small GPS device, something stirred in the shadows which caught the lovely lady's attention.

"Gordon. Did you hear that? I thought I heard something in the fields." She whispered, tugging on my arm.

I didn't hear anything at first. "It's probably the shadows playing tricks on you. There is a bit of a wind in the air as well."

I tried not to think much about it, but Penelope was adamant that we were being watched from the farm.

"There it is again." She continued. "I'm telling you. We are being watched. Can you see anything?"

Having no such luck with the GPS locator, I turned to face the farm. I had to let my eyes adjust first so I could see the details. That's when I clocked something move amongst the corn fields. It had the shape of a person, but the surrounding corn made it hard to identify. Our curiosities switched on. We were going to investigate. Why oh why did we do that? Entering the fields, Penelope reached for a small flashlight which she kept in her handbag. Switching it on, we realized that we had found a Scarecrow. You know, just an ordinary tatty Scarecrow. I rubbed the back of my head in puzzlement. Was this the figure we had seen moving about? We stood there in complete silence for a few minutes and heard nothing but the wind rustling the trees.

"I don't figure this at all." She said. I could have sworn this was moving?"

"It's just an old Scarecrow," I replied as I poked the wretched thing a little. "Come on. We better be getting back."

Suddenly, as we turned to leave, we both heard a faint humming sound coming from the Scarecrow. It shook on the spot for a few seconds until it's eye sockets lit up with a bright orange light. We stood there in complete amazement as it lifted its arm and moved its legs. This thing was alive! Before we could react, it lifted its left arm and took a swipe at me. I missed it by inches. If I hadn't, it would have cut me in two.

"Run!" I shouted as I grabbed Penelope's hand and took off.

"Where are we going!?" She shouted.

We were running back towards the entrance to the farm. It looked as if we were gaining distance on it as it moved sluggishly through the field. Then, it picked up speed and launched itself into the air. Our jaws dropped as the Scarecrow leaped over our heads and landed in front of us, blocking our escape route. I stared down at its hands. It was brandishing some sort of weapon! In a monotone voice, it spoke;

"I am going to kill you! You will not escape me!

I couldn't believe it. This Scarecrow was now issuing threats at us. Like I was going to accept that! It began to advance on us when Penelope spotted a clearing through the corn fields. She grabbed my arm and dragged me into the clearing. The Scarecrow was on hot on our tail.

"I can see lights over there." She said. "I think somebody's inside!"

"Sure! I'm pretty sure the one person we should ask for help is the owner of a killer Scarecrow!"

"Well, I don't see you sharing any ideas!"

We climbed over the fence and hopped onto the adjacent property. Penelope was right. There were lights on inside the farmer's house. We crept around the back as to not alert the Scarecrow of our presence. It appeared to have lost us for now, which gave us the opportunity to investigate the house. Penelope approached the front door and knocked on it gently. No reply. It was like the owner inside was trying to ignore us. I wanted confirmation so I crept up to one of the windows to get a look inside. It was the damnedest thing I had ever seen. The lights were on, but there was nobody home. There was something about this farm that gave it a sinister feeling. It was as if we had stumbled onto something that we shouldn't have done.

"Can you see anybody?" She whispered.

"No. There's nobody inside at all." I replied. "It's almost as if, this farm belongs to some unknown power."

Penelope reached for her compact transmitter. "I'm going to contact, Parker. There's got to be some sort of reception around here."

I watched her try to raise Parker over and over, but she wasn't having any luck. We were all on our own out here and it was my fault. She sat next to me and sighed. We didn't know what to do next. We had no sense of direction, a maniac Scarecrow running about, and no ride home.

Penelope looked at me. "You know, usually I would be excited by a foot chase, but when it comes to Scarecrows, it's a different story."

"Yeah well, this wouldn't be happening if I hadn't enticed you to go for a walk with me." I sighed, blaming myself. "I can't seem to do anything right when I'm with you can I?"

"What do you mean?"

"I just wanted to spend some quality time with you. We rarely get the time off and well... I love hanging out with you. I'm just bad at all this chill time stuff."

Penelope put her hand on mine. "Now you listen here, Gordon Tracy. I don't like to hang about with guys who blame themselves for risks. Risks are apart of our jobs and our lives. Besides, who said that I didn't enjoy my date tonight?"

I wanted to react to that, but the moment was cut short when a familiar figure appeared from the cornfield.

"I'm going to slice and dice you both! You can't escape!"

The Scarecrow let out a crashed laugh. Penelope and I looked at each other. It was time to run again. As we turned the corner towards the rear of the house, Penelope came up with a plan. A barn sat at the end of the farm which could give us the opportunity to hide from this thing. She looked at me and smiled slightly. I was getting to see her adventurous side again. I love that about her. Always full of spare of the moment ideas.

"Let's hide in there." She said sharply. "I think we could use something to trap it."

"Lead the way, milady," I replied.

The Scarecrow popped out from the side of the house and laughed. It continued to taunt us as we sprinted towards the barn entrance.

"Run all you want! Your souls will be mine! MUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

We stumbled into the barn, quickly assessing the best places to hide. I grabbed Penelope by the waste and threw her into a huge bale of hay. I quickly followed and crouched down with her.

"Hey next time, keep your hands to yourself." She whispered in disbelief.

"Sorry, I was being spontaneous. Quiet. Here it comes."

The Scarecrow entered the barn and began to search for us. While we crouched there and hid, I observed its movements in great detail. Something had made it move almost robotically. Seemed to have a great difficulty looking around as it's orange eyes flickered and hissed. It finally came to me. It was a machine! If it was mechanical then all it would need was a splash of water to disable it. I quickly proposed the idea to Penelope who then agreed to fetch a water hose which was bound to be lying around somewhere while I'd go out and distract it.

"Are you sure that you want to do this?" She asked me.

"Of course," I replied. "You can run faster than me so you could get to the hose in time."

"Well alright then. Good luck, Gordon." She sighed as she leaned over and planted a kiss on my cheek.

On the count to three, Penelope rolled out of the Haystack and made a run for it. I then rolled out and proceeded to get the Scarecrow's attention.

"Hey so, who manufactured you? Was it The Hood? The Mechanic? Or a Zombite who had a job at an electronics store?"

The Scarecrow homed its sights on me and began to advance. I dodged and jumped all over the place, trying to keep one step ahead of the Scarecrow's blades. All the while I was doing that, the blasted thing was still taunting me.

"Die, Die. You'll tire soon. Die foolish boy from International Rescue!"

I couldn't believe my ears. "What did you just say?"

Before the Scarecrow could reply, Penelope emerged with a water hose in hand. She switched on the water and blasted it with a power burst. The things sparked and eventually burst into flames. The smoke began to settle a few minutes later allowing us to examine the charred remains. Amongst the jumbled pile of bolts and screws, I spotted something and picked it up. It was a piece of technology that was all too familiar to me. It was the size of a computer chip, but it resembled a piece of Tech that Brains once designed to brink MAX to life. I showed it to Penelope and she secured it in her handbag. Leaving the barn, we trailed back along the road into town. We were eventually spotted by FAB One as we returned to the pickup point. We were tired, thirsty and had dust all over our clothes. To Parker, we must have looked a right state.

"Are you both alright, Milady?" He asked us with concern. "Only I wasn't able to contact you through your radio."

"We'll explain later, Parker," Penelope replied calmly. "Just get us to the rendezvous site. I presume that Scott should be waiting for us."

Anyway, FAB One dropped me off where Scott was waiting for us with Thunderbird One. I took the chip home with me so Brains could analyze it. On the trip home, Scott kept asking me about the state I was in, but I just remained silent for the entire flight home. Sure I'll continue to see the wonderful Lady P on my days off, but we agreed that our next date would be dinner at her place. Lady Penelope, that is the best idea I have heard yet.

Update: It is now three weeks since I've shared this story. Brains have run a full scan on the computer chip which I have collected from the Scarecrow. Seriously, he pulled it apart and ran scans on everything. He's just handed a copy of the results to Scott and to Colonel Casey of the GDF. To be honest, I would be lying if I said that I am okay with the results, but I'm not. The technology ID and optics matched those of the Mechas that were used by The Mechanic. Those things ripped apart our Thunderbirds! Just how did he manage to do it? How did he know where to find us and deploy that thing! I'm hoping that the Colonel will be able to fill us in with more information soon.

Update #2: Colonel Casey has just been in touch. It turns out that our encrypted transmissions had been hacked by The Mechanic on the night of our date. It turned out that he wanted to kidnap Lady Penelope but his plans didn't quite go ahead because I was there, so he sent out a killbot and disguised it to look like a Scarecrow. The details are still very vague, but it's enough to go on. This has to be the most dangerous move he has made so far. I will never forget the night when The Mechanic tried to take our lives.


	4. The Tracy UFO Incident by John Tracy

**Thunderbirds Are Go**

 **The Halloween Collection (2017 edition)**

 **by Lee Homer**

 **Disclaimer: All rights reserved. May contain dark situations so this will be rated, T**

The Tracy UFO Incident

Told by John Tracy

So today is the anniversary of when our family moved to Tracy Island to form International Rescue. We don't really celebrate it much these days, but Grandma was able to persuade everyone to at least have a little dinner to honor the occasion. It went really well actually. We had dinner, chilled out around the piano, even got Brains to rig up the old family slides projector for us. As the sun went down, we all sat in the lounge to relax. The conversation then turned into a story session and well... it unearthed one such memory that we all thought we would never ever have to speak about again. I can't remember how old we all were as we were quite young back when this story happened so I'll try to be as accurate as possible. This story happened during our first few days on the island.

See when we first moved to Tracy Island, Dad was in the process of setting up International Rescue. This meant that he was often caught up in legal work with the GDF and the various contractors that would ship out parts to make our Thunderbirds. Because of this, he would never have any free time to spend with us so we often had to entertain ourselves. It was a lovely night out there and Scott decided to go exploring around the island, enticing us to go with him. Virgil and Gordon would always follow him about as if he was the patriarch brother. I, on the other hand, wasn't sure considering that Alan was only small and wasn't really old enough to go exploring with us, but I took him anyway. After all, Scott was the responsible one. We packed up a small satchel of camping equipment along with some poorly crated fishing rods and set off. Grandma didn't mind little Alan going with us as long as I looked after him, so I made sure he held my hand throughout the trek.

I recall the hike going really well. The trails around the island weren't hard to follow. Virgil scouted about and found us a spot to set up a campsite. It was at the peak of the island which had an outstanding view. Scott got the fire going while Gordon went off to search for more wood. Alan seemed okay and asked to go with him, so I agreed. Well anyway, Scott and Virgil went through the provisions that they had packed and got themselves into a bit of an argument over who would have the soda can. Yeah, they would often argue like that as kids do. While I sat there watching them bicker, I just felt uneasy. I constantly felt like something was watching us and that something terrifying was about to happen. Who'd knew I'd be right. It felt as if time was slowing down which was as rather an unusual sensation. I somehow fell into a trance-like state as my senses all over my body began to tingle. I couldn't hear my brothers anymore, only a throbbing humming sound. My heart began to race which was enough to snap me out of it. Felling the impending dread, I bolted upwards destroying Scott and Virgil's arguments.

"Guys, where's Alan?" I asked, my breathing became heavy. "Where's Gordon?"

"They've both gone to get more firewood," Virgil replied. "Are you okay, John? You look like you've just seen a ghost."

"I don't know," I replied. My body began to flood with anxiety at this point. "I just want to go home."

"But we only just got here," Scott said. "Come on bro, don't be scared. It's only the woods. Nothing can hurt us out here? Chill out. Come on, have a Marshmallow."

Somehow, I didn't have any of it. "No! I'm going to search for them. Grandma made Alan my responsibility. Dad's going to be so mad!"

Scott and Virgil just looked at each other with confusion as I made a rush for the woods. I don't know what came over me. To this day, I believe it was a premonition. That something was about to happen and all my mind kept telling me was to get everyone out of there. I heard the sound of footsteps running at me from the distance. I shone my flashlight in the directions and caught Gordon hurrying towards me. The look in his eyes. He was scared beyond belief. I caught him and pulled him in for assuring hug.

"Gordon? What's wrong. Where's Alan!?"

"He... He's behind me." He explained. "We were getting firewood when all of a sudden, he just started to wander off into the woods. There was a light amongst the trees. This orange light. It was like he was being drawn to it. I tried calling him but it was like he couldn't hear me."

"Okay, I'm going to get him. You get back to camp and get the others to pack up." I instructed. "It's okay Gordon. Just keep it together bro."

"John, I'm scared," Gordon said. His eyes filled with tears. "That light isn't normal."

I assured him as I got him to look at me. "He looked at me. It's okay. It's going to be okay."

Gordon headed on back to the campsite, leaving me alone in the darkness of the woods. The bizarre thing was, they didn't remain dark for long. As I reached the area, My eyes were drawn towards a warm, orange glow that lit up the trees around it. It was so inviting. Seriously, it was like something was reaching into my head and beckoning me over towards it. It was at that point that I could feel that trance-like sensation making its return. Somehow though, I was able to fight it this time. Shielding my eyes, I cautiously walked over towards it. There was something sitting there behind that light. I got closer towards it until I was able to make out what it was. Something was sitting there amongst the trees. It was a long, dark metallic and disk-shaped. Yes, you heard me, disk-shaped. Standing at the edge of this thing was Alan. He was only a few meters away from this things and to me, it looked like he had been possessed.

I called out to him until my face went blue. "Alan! Come on bro! Please talk to me!"

As I made me through the orange haze towards him, the look on his face made my stomach drop. His face was white as a sheet and his eyes were bulging. I tried shaking him by the shoulders, but there was no response whatsoever. What was he looking at?

I took a look over at the craft to see what had put him in this trance. I could see what appeared to be little windows in the side of this disc. I couldn't be too sure, but I could have sworn I had seen people moving about inside, well their shadows at least. I had to get my little brother out of there. I scooped him up in my arms and headed away from the object. Now before you all go and say anything, I believe in Alien life and the fact that we are not alone in the universe, but this craft could have even been the government. The island was still uncharted at the time before Dad could register it under his name, so the possibility of some Government test flight operation happening isn't unpopular. We just happened to be a group of kids that were in the wrong place at the wrong time. If this thing was Extraterrestrial, then it was a close encounter like no other.

We eventually made our way to the campsite, where Gordon had filled in the others about what he had witnessed. Scott and Virgil knew he was telling the truth when they got a look at Alan's face. I fought my tears, trying to keep it together for my brother's sake. I was guilt-ridden, soaked in sweat and dirt and couldn't let go of Alan. Why did I let him go off with Gordon? He should have just stayed with me.

"it's my fault." I cried. "Dad's going to ground me! Alan's sick!"

Scott put his arm around me. He understood where I was coming from and took charge of the situation. A trait that would mold him into the fine leader that he is today. He pulled me to one side, while Virgil took Alan off me.

"John, this isn't your fault, okay?" He said calmly. "If Dad goes spare, we'll all take the blame together. Gordon told us what happened. We're going to get out of here and head home. Virgil will carry Alan as he's strong enough to hold him. You and Gordon will carry the gear. I'll navigate us back."

I wiped my eyes. "Okay, S-Scott."

"Okay. Just take it, easy bro. There's no sense in losing your cool out here."

Dousing the flames with our water cans, we headed off into the darkness of the woods. You'd think that would be the end of the story, but the night was far from over. As we made it halfway down, we all felt the ground vibrate. A familiar humming sound swept through the wind. It got louder by the second. We all turned round to find out where it was coming from. I felt compelled to look up at the sky. There it was. The Flying Disc. We all stood there with our jaws open, as this disc hovered directly over us and out to sea. It was the size of space capsule but it's speed and maneuverability wasn't like anything we had seen before. By today's standards, not even our Thunderbirds could fly like this thing could. It shot off into the night in a matter of seconds. It left us there to breathe in the electromagnetically charged air. Seriously, we were all left with a distinct metallic taste in our mouths. It was so unreal.

Fearing it would make a return, we pressed on refusing to look back. Terrifyingly, the object did make a return. This time, it appeared to be chasing us with a sharp orange beam of light that it had projected onto the trail. Whatever this object was, it was now coming after us. Scott screamed at the top of his lungs.

"Run for it!"

"I can't keep up!" Gordon yelled. "It's going to get me!"

"You can make it, bro!" Virgil called back. "Don't let it hit you!"

"I just want my Daddy!" Alan cried as he came to in Virgil's arms. "I'm so scared!"

The Disc was hot on our tail for the next few minutes. Our combined adrenaline was able to keep us ahead of it until we made it to a slope. The Villa sat there below. It's comforting lights reflected in the ocean. It was our safe haven. It was home and we needed to get to it fast. As we began to head down the slope, Scott lost his footing and began to tumble. He grabbed onto my arm, dragging me down with him. Now running away from a UFO is one thing, but falling down a rocky slope in the middle of the night wearing a pair of cargo shorts is another thing entirely. It was painful. We ended up in a heap at the bottom of the slope. Gordon quickly skidded down to help us up. Scott had cut up his arms and suffered bruises all over. I split my lip open and cut open my right knee. Yeah, we now had that to deal with. Virgil safely made it down with Alan. We all ducked down underneath a small ledge and kept quiet. The ground began to shake around us, loosening rocks and plants. We watched on in the shadows as the UFO made a pass over us. It impressed us for one last time as it took off into the sky vertically. We never saw it again.

We eventually hobbled home much to Grandma's disgrace at the sight of us. She prised Alan from Virgil's arms and sent us to our rooms. Scott stuck to his word but decided to take the blame for everything. I sat there in the bathroom, listening to Dad raging at him over what happened. Grandma sat me down in the bathroom and fixed up my injuries. I told her what happened, but she didn't know whether to believe me or not. However, she went easy on me because Virgil and Gordon had been and told her the same story. Sure we always stuck together being brothers and all, but it was the first time that we genuinely saw something together. Something that we would never fabricate at all. Sure my knee sting and my lip throbbed, but Alan was on my mind. I never saw him for the rest of the night.

Dad has the doctor fly out the next morning to look at him. He couldn't find any medical explanation for what had happened to him, but he said that he would make a full recovery if he just kept his fluid up. Fortunately for the family, it only took him three days to recover. I would spend most of my time in his room, keeping him company. I think Dad knew that something went on out there. We had caught him radioing different officials asking if they had detected anything in the skies that night. As far as we know, all of them said no. So what was it? Was it aliens? I guess to this day we will never know. Alan now knows what happened to him when he was small. He claims that he remembers the event, but he'll never want to talk about it. He won't even be in the room when you tell the story to someone and you know something, I don't blame him. I guess I can end this story on a brighter note actually. See, I don't want you all to read this and just assume that Aliens visited the island because that's not what I'm saying, but what I will say is this. Don't go about with a closed mind. There is a lot to our universe that we will never begin to understand. What I believe doesn't really matter, but it is a reason why I opted to work in space. It's why I'm in Thunderbird Five. I mean, As much as this encounter was terrifying, it made me so passionate about Space that in some way, I want to see it again. As for the Tracy family though, I think we appreciate a quiet night a whole lot more.


	5. The Shadow Serpent by Lady Penelope

**Thunderbirds Are Go**

 **The Halloween Collection (2017 edition)**

 **by Lee Homer**

 **Disclaimer: All rights reserved. May contain dark situations so this will be rated, T**

The Shadow Serpent

Told by Lady Penelope

I keep on getting nightmares of a day that I will never forget. This happened a couple of years before I joined International Rescue as their London Agent. I had only been an Agent for a year when this happened. I was so cocky, naïve and I barely had the technology which I have now. Even Parker was more... authoritative back then. I suppose he had to be considering he was assigned by my father to look after me. He would always make sure that he was always with me when I would go out on an assignment. We had FAB One at the time, but she wasn't well equipped back then. I thought this day would be different, a chance to prove to Parker that I could carry out an assignment and make a name for myself in the process. Yeah, that didn't happen. I remember it a cold winter's night when we were knee deep in an assignment.

We had been assigned to locate and capture a Super Spy which had made the worlds most wanted criminal list. His case files revealed a massive history of industrial theft, kidnapping, and even Murder. This guy was a British gentleman who been at the spy game a lot longer than I had. He was working for a terrorist organization who had threatened to take out the Global Defence Force on many occasions. Things had begun to spiral out of control when this terrorist spy, infiltrated a GDF facility and blew it up. The case went to various other agents around the world, but all of them failed to locate him wherever he traveled. Now that he was spotted in England, the case went to me. He went by the name "The Shadow Serpent." It was a chilling name, to say the least, but we were able to find out his true identity. His name was Andrew Tenfold, a former secret Agent that had connections to MI-5. He went rogue and joined a foreign terrorist cell where he then acquired his cover name. I read his file countless times. He had a rap sheet so bad, he could be put to death if the GDF saw fit.

Anyway, it was getting late and I was putting my plan into fruition. I decided to lure him to my estate after a few of our leads went cold. Parker didn't like the idea at all and spent most of the evening protesting, but I was determined to catch the guy with a plan that I thought would never fail. I put out a message on a dark web forum which the Serpent had been using. My cover story was sound. I was going to lure him over with the pretense that I had secret GDF security codes for sale. It was so juicy that I knew he couldn't resist. I was so right. He responded within the next hour, arranging to meet me at the estate for the transaction. I showed Parker the message and he scowled at me.

"I don't like this at all, Milady." He moaned. "We don't know what this fella is capable of? You should reconsider this."

"And what, let him flee the country again?" I replied. "This is the one chance we have at catching the Serpent. I can't afford to let him go now."

"I understand that, but I should at least remain in the building in case this plan backfires."

"Parker, you need a night off, so I'm giving it to you. I am quite capable of handling this by myself."

We argued it out for the next half an hour or so until Parker finally relented. He grabbed his coat and headed out into the night.

The clock ticked loudly as I sat there in the quietness of my parlor. I couldn't predict when my target would arrive. I couldn't even be sure if he was going to turn up or not. Suddenly, a beam of light poured in through my window. I could hear the sound of a car pull up outside my door. I stood up and walked over towards the door just as I heard the sound of footsteps crunching the stones outside. Three loud thuds shook the door. I slowly opened it to see a tall, slender gentleman standing at the other side. He wore a black trench coat in which he had his hands placed in. I noted how bizarre he looked considering he was wearing sunglasses at night. I felt my nerves begin to get the better of me. I wasn't so confident anymore.

"Are you her?" He asked me in a low monotone voice. "I have come to make a transaction."

"Oh right. You must be the gentleman who is after my intel. I have been expecting you." I replied calmly. "Please do come in."

However, this is where the story takes a darker turn. As soon as I had my back turned, he rushed up to me and kicked the door shut. He grabbed and reached for a soaked rag that was in his pocket. He placed the rag over my mouth. It was chloroform. I heard him whisper into my ear as I began to lose consciousness.

"I know who you really are, Lady Penelope. You will soon learn never to cross the Serpent."

Then, things went black for a while. We eventually awoke in my parlor again only this time, the atmosphere felt completely different. It took me a while for the effects of the chloroform to wear off. However, once I did, my anxiety began to sound sirens in my head. I had been tied to a kitchen chair and a strip of tape had been placed over my mouth. I tried to get my bearings and hoped that Parker wasn't too far away from the house. I didn't know how much time had elapsed. I didn't know what was going on. Was the Serpent still in the house? Had he robbed me and left me here? I tried to move but I couldn't. He used pretty tough tape on me. Then he entered the room from the kitchen, holding a kitchen knife. He stood over me and leaned forward, peeling the tape off of my lips. He then pulled up another chair and sat it down opposite me.

"Well, it's nice to see you awake again." He said. "I've searched the house. Nobody's home except us so there's no point in screaming."

"What do you want?" I asked him. "If you know who I am and know that my plan failed then why are you still here?"

"That's a good question." He grinned. "I happen to know enough about you, Lady Penelope. You're not only beautiful but you're very smart as well. I guess you thought you could take me down by yourself without your bodyguard chauffeur. I wouldn't worry. Parker won't be back for some time. He's probably hitting the betting shops as we speak."

I stared at him blankly. I didn't even consider that he would be hacking into my files as well. He was a spy after all. He knew all the protocols and tricks in the book.

"Oh don't look so surprised." He sneered. "You've only been an agent for a year. You couldn't have stopped me if you tried."

"I can clearly see that," I said calmly. "Now I must ask. What are you going to do with me?"

"Oh, I've had my thoughts about that." He replied as he leaned over towards my face and grinned. "I was considering taking you as my insurance while I fled the country but while you sleeping, I had a search around and found there."

My eyes looked down at his hands. He presented my Pass badges that were affiliated with the GDF. I knew that this guy had something else in mind.

"I saw these and I figured that you would know something that would be valuable to me after all." He continued. "You are such a smart girl that you would know the Cypher codes to the GDF's security grid. You are going to give them to me and maybe I'll let you live."

"Well aren't you a Gentleman," I replied sarcastically.

"I could never resist a pretty face." He sneered again. I wanted to smack that expression off of his face.

He then turned away from me once again. I sat there helplessly and watched him fumble about in my kitchen. I could hear him muttering away to himself. I couldn't quite work out what he was saying, but my intuition told me that he was going to do something to me. He then peered his head around the corner and smiled at me. His menacing grin instantly made my hairs stand on end. He then slowly walked over towards me brandishing a large knife.

"Here's where we going to do things my way now, sweetheart." He said as he slowly raised the blade to my face. "Where are the GDF Cypher codes?"

"I don't have any GDF codes," I replied. The tremble in the voice began to echo. "This was just a ploy to try and capture you."

The Serpent held the knife up to my cheek and began to stroke it with the blunt end. He began to lose himself in the moment. As if he was living a fantasy which he was getting a kick out of. This guy wasn't just a dangerous spy, but a mentally unstable one as well.

"Oh, why are you lying to me?" He said with a whisper as he placed his other hand on my chin. "You shouldn't lie to me, sweetheart. You are very beautiful. I don't want to have to cut that pretty face of yours."

I started to cry. The fear was overwhelming. Why was this happening to me? I could feel his eyes burrowing into my soul.

"Please, I don't know anything. Just take what you want and leave." I pleaded.

"Let's try this again." He continued, moving the knife under my jugular. "Where are the Cypher codes."

I was running out of options. I had never been so helpless before. Time began to stop as my senses kicked in. I was certain that I was going to die. All I could think about was Parker and my family. Come to think of it, all I did think about was Parker. Oh, why didn't I just listen to him? I wish he was here right now to take me away from this nightmare. As these thoughts raced through my head, the Serpent began to back away. He pulled the knife away from me and placed down on the table. He sat there motionless for a few seconds allowing me to take in a sharp intake of breath.

"I believe you." He said calmly. "You don't have anything for me. What a shame. I really thought you were going to be helpful. I have to get out of the country somehow, but what am I going to do with you?"

I don't know why. It never really worked in these situations, but I took a gamble and bargained with him.

"Why don't you let me go? I won't say anything. We can pretend that this never happened."

The Serpent laughed at me. "Sure. They all say that. Do you really think that I'd fall for that old trick?"

"Well then, are you going to kill me?"

"No. I like you too much. In fact, I may still have some use with you." Then he had an idea. "Yes, I can flee to France easily with you as my insurance policy! Better grab your coat, sweetheart. We're going to go on a little trip."

The thought of being kidnapped by this man sent my anxiety levels into overdrive. I struggled violently at my bonds as he leaned towards me with that chloroformed rag again. Then suddenly, I could hear the door behind him open. A huge crashing sound echoed behind him. The Serpent then went limp. He dropped the rag and stumbled about a bit before dropping to the floor. He lay there amongst a sea of shattered glass. I couldn't believe my eyes. Parker stood there clutching a broken vase which he had used to take out the Serpent. He ran over to and freed me from my temporary prison. He then tied the Serpent's wrists and ankles and then dragged him to the lobby. He then came over to me and checked me over for any sign of injury. I sat there in a daze, completely shocked by the events that had just transpired. The whole event only took an hour, but it felt like an eternity. He held me in his arms and cradled me as I began to break down.

"I'm so sorry." I sobbed. "I'm so sorry for ignoring you. You were right. I.. I thought I was going to die."

"It's alright Milady." He said calmly as he rocked me gently. "He can't can't hurt you anymore. I called the GDF and they are coming to collect him."

After a few minutes of sitting on the floor, Parker took me into the kitchen and sat me down with a cup of tea. I was able to clear my head enough for him to explain how he got here so fast.

"How are you feeling now, Milady?" He asked.

"Much better thank you. I can now think clearly." I replied. "Just how did you know I would be in trouble?"

"Well you see, when I got to the casino, I just couldn't enjoy myself knowing what you were trying to do, so I called Colonel Casey." He explained. "She happened to agree with me, so she told me to head back while she dispatched some boys to come and arrest him. When I got back, I saw him trying to knock you out again."

"Oh, Parker. What would I ever do without you? I'm so sorry for the way I've acted during this assignment. I guess I've just felt so smothered lately with you trying to protect me when all I wanted to do was prove to you that I could this on my own. I was wrong."

Then, I witnessed Parker do something which I thought he'd never do. He took a seat opposite me and placed his hands on mine. He decided to drop his Chauffeur personality for the moment.

"Milady, I maybe only your Chauffeur, but your father was like a brother to me. When you were growing up, he felt that you would be safe with me in case something were to happen to him. The reason I've been protective over you is that I made him a promise. But to be honest with you Milady, I've grown so fond of you that.. well...you've become like the daughter to me that I never had."

I was completely stunned by that revelation. Don't get me wrong, it touched my heart, but I never knew Parker felt that way. We spent that night talking and trying to put the ordeal behind us. The GDF eventually turned up to take the Serpent away. It was a very harrowing ordeal but come to think of it, talking about it now after all these years has finally put things into perspective. I mean think about it, I wouldn't be here now if it wasn't for Parker. That night taught me a lot of lessons. I've learned to not be so eager now, to judge things before I go and do them but most of all, I'll never go on a mission unless Parker is beside me.

Of course, a few years later we finally joined International Rescue and immediately, our lives changed for the better. FAB One received new technology which would help us on our missions. We certainly felt apart of the family which meant that we could move on with our lives. As for the Serpent, he's currently doing life in a top-secret maximum security prison. I wouldn't imagine that he would be up for parole anytime soon but to that deranged, evil arsehole. Let's never cross paths again.


	6. Ghost Ship Encounter by Alan Tracy

**Thunderbirds Are Go!**

 **The Halloween Collection (2017 Edition)**

 **By Lee Homer**

 **Disclaimer: All rights reserved. May contain dark situations so this will be rated, T**

Ghost Ship Encounter

Told by Alan Tracy

I've always been a fan of sea-based rescues, but I'm rarely given a chance to actually go out on one. There are times when Gordon needs a hand or two when Thunderbird Four called out to assist a ship or a crash site in the middle of the ocean. I happened to pick the lucky straw for a change. We had been called out to investigate a mysterious SOS message that was coming from an area in the Atlantic ocean. John couldn't give us much to go on apart from stating that the messages didn't seem right. He could hear screaming and faint cries in the message and figured that an ocean liner was on the verge of sinking. However, he said that he couldn't pick up anything on his scanners, which made this case a complete mystery. Scott made the decision to send the three of us out to investigate. Now usually, Kayo would be the go-to girl to accompany Gordon whenever he needed the assistance, but she wasn't here for some reason that I can't remember, so he asked for my help instead. I was excited for this at the time. A mission with my brother in Thunderbird Four! Why would I ever turn that down!?

It took us just under an hour to arrive at the scene of the SOS message and we were met with an eerie sight that just seemed fitting. The entire ocean's surface had been blanketed by a thick fog bank. I've seen many fog banks before, but this one stood out in particular. It was sitting on the ocean's surface, shining a bright, luminescent green light to it. This fog looked liked the one that was in that old John Carpenter movie. We flew over it for a while because Virgil and Gordon didn't want to make another move until they locked in on the SOS signal. For some bizarre reason, they had a hard time locating it. I sat there and watched as my two brothers scratched their heads in confusion.

"This doesn't make any sense. We should be right on the source of that message." Virgil said. "Thunderbird Five, can you confirm the area fix?"

John's image appeared before us. _"The reading remained unchanged. You're directly over it, Thunderbird Two."_

"We can't see a thing down there, John," Gordon reported. "There's a huge fog bank down there that's making things difficult for us."

John threw Gordon a look. _"That's odd. According to the weather readouts, you should have clear visibility and blue skies."_

"Well, that does it." Gordon sighed. "There's no way that your instruments can be wrong. Something is going on here and I want to find out what it is."

Virgil raised an eyebrow. "Are you suggesting that we drop the pod right in the middle of that fog bank? You do know that once you're both down there, I could lose contact with you? There could well be some sort of electromagnetic charge that's making those clouds glow like that."

"It's a risk we're willing to take. It's only fog clouds." Gordon replied as he tapped me on the shoulder. "Ready to go little bro?"

I took a deep breath. "Sure why not? I'm not scared of a fluffy cloud bank now, am I."

He smiled at me. "Now that's what I'd like to hear."

"Be careful you two," Virgil said as we parted ways. "I'll maintain this position up here."

The Pod touched impacted on the ocean surface. The pod flaps lowered, presenting us with a completely different atmosphere. The thick glowing fog didn't seem to move at all. It encompassed the pod as if it was trying to trap us down here. I may have been safe in Thunderbird Four's cabin, but I still didn't like it. Something about this fog bank gave me the jitters. We soon made our way out into the water. It was dark in the cabin with our only source of light coming from the computer instruments. The Pod quickly faded from our sights. If it wasn't for his sonar equipment, we would have easily gotten ourselves lost.

We were down there for about an hour and we weren't turning up any results. Gordon still had a fix on the SOS marker, but we couldn't see one. There was no marker buoy to be seen. We couldn't work out where it was coming from. As we brought Thunderbird Four to a stop, we both began to run over the possible explanations.

"Okay, let's think about this." Gordon began. " We're sitting here in a mysterious fog bank, chasing an SOS signal that doesn't exist. What could be the explanation? Somebody's either playing a prank or it's a ruse to get us out of the way. It's a classic example of The Mechanic."

"Wait, wait, wait. You think The Mechanic would do something like this?" I replied in disbelief. I knew that The Mechanic was capable of doing many things, but creating giant fog banks made no sense. "I'm sorry, I just don't buy that."

"Oh, how so?" Gordon asked with intrigue.

"Well look at it this way, bro?" I continued. "He was able to make a killer mechanical Scarecrow once because he had the technology to make that happen. Now to make a giant fog bank, he would have had to have made a giant weather machine or something. We haven't seen one or detected one from Space. No, something else is at work here."

I thought for a moment that Gordon would argue my point, but he eventually agreed. As we continued to speculate, we were distracted by the sound of his sensor grid. It was now registering an object in the area. It was very strange, to say the least, as this object appeared to have come from nowhere.

"That was never there before," Gordon said, as he rubbed his chin. "It's the size of a ship alright. Let's go and check it out."

My mind began to fill with intrigue. "I wonder what it could be? A cargo ship? An ocean liner?"

As we pressed on into the fog, the readings remained the same. By this time my eyes had adjusted to the low lighting conditions. I spotted something moving through the mist. It was just for a faint second, but I was certain that an I had seen a ship drifting through the water. I steered Gordon over towards the area, keeping my eyes open for another visual sighting. I certainly wasn't mistaken. The bow of a ship slowly emerged from the fog. It was one of the creepiest entrances I had ever witnessed! It gently drifted towards us, revealing more of its features as it went. It made no sound whatsoever. Its entire structure had been coated in seaweed. Its pain had been washed away by the currents. Windows and portholes were missing. Its anchor was missing. As it sailed past us, we noticed that the ship had no electricity. It had been completely submerged in darkness. To use an old horror trope correctly, it looked like a Ghost ship.

"It's a small Ocean Liner," Gordon said as he read out the distorted markings on the bow of the ship. "The…S.S Arcadia."

The name rang so many bells, but I couldn't picture it anywhere. Why did it sound so familiar? We spun ourselves around to make another pass at the ship. As soon as we did that, I felt a real uneasy sensation in my gut. It was obvious that this ship was not supposed to be here. The problem was that we didn't have any information about her to go on. Gordon eventually matched the ships speed and remained alongside her. I should have been frightened at this point. The ship did nothing but give us menacing vibes. The funny thing was, I was feeling, even more, braver than before. My curiosity had twisted my arm into going. I wanted to go onboard and investigate. As soon as I brought up the idea to Gordon, he instantly shot it down immediately.

"Out of the question! I don't want you to board that ship." He said. "We don't know what we're dealing with here!"

"But bro, what if we're wrong?" I replied with a question. "What if there is something onboard that the marine authorities wanted all those years ago? We can't just turn round and say that we've seen nothing. Someone is onboard and they clearly sent that message!"

"Why do you want to go?" He asked me. I could hear the nerves in his voice. "If anybody should go then it should be me. I'm responsible if anything should happen to you."

"Bro, we both know that I can't operate Thunderbird Four if something were to happen to you," I stated. " You need to stay here. I'll be fine. I'll take the small thruster pack and will just survey the deck. If I don't see any sign of life, I'll come straight back."

Gordon paused for a moment out of concern. He pulled me in for a hug and held me tight. I respected his concerns and promised him that I would be up there for no more than thirty minutes. He opened the outer hatch for me as I placed on my thruster pack. I felt a sharp chill hit my face as it entered my utility helmet. A constant breeze swept through the fog. The deafly quiet, bright fog. Putting the what – if scenarios out of my head, I made my way up towards the Arcadia's promenade deck. Peering into each deck, I could see nothing. I was certain that I would only be searching an empty shell instead of a fully furnished ship. The sea stains and apparent seaweed only added to the mystery. Did this ship previously sink?

As gently landed on the promenade deck and stood there in complete silence. The waves crashed up against the sides of the ship. The wooden decking creaked with each footstep. The metal work had rusted up pretty badly. I tried to get a visual idea of where I was, but the fog had made it impossible. I didn't know where to begin. I called down to Gordon to let him know that I had made it safely, before leaving a small homing beacon. I wanted to mark my spot so I could find my way back to it later. Getting lost onboard this ship was the last thing that I wanted to do. Switching on all of my flashlights, I decided to make a start with the ships main bridge. The decking was very slippery only adding to the danger. Everything that I touched was covered in grime. The beam from my flashlight lit up shadows left, right and center, causing my mind to play tricks on me. The feeling of being watched had never felt so real in my life. I would mistake the sound of my footsteps for that of someone else's because the sound would echo off the walls. How I managed to keep a cool head at this point, I'll never know.

I eventually arrived at the main bridge and took a look around. To my surprise, everything was where it should be. The furniture was still in their right places, the computer consoles were shot but still intact. Even the emergency doors remained firmly on their hinges. Water dripped from the ceiling, soaking the decking. I proceeded to look around when suddenly, a blood-curdling scream echoed throughout the ship. I froze in fear! It sounded like a man was in pain! Somebody was onboard after all! I didn't think any more about it. I had to search for this person. I ran out onto the decking and called out into the fog.

"This is International Rescue! Can you hear me! Call out so I can find you! Hello! Is anybody there!?"

Nothing. All was silent again. Before I could call out again, the radio behind me switched itself on. Distorted voices crackled through the waterlogged tannoy. It was unbelievable. There was no power onboard that could make it work like that. The messages themselves they chilled me to the bone. I could hear someone talking to me.

" _Help! - fffzt – We've been hit! – fffzt – Going down! - fffzt – AAAAAAAGGGGHHHHHHH!"_

That scream, That deep agonizing scream. I didn't know how to react to it. I couldn't even feel my body at that point. My brain ran into overdrive. I couldn't work out if I wanted to run, scream, cry or worse... pee myself. I know. It would have been embarrassing if I did. The voices continued. They became more garbled and distorted amongst the static. I couldn't work out what they were saying. All I could hear was that scream. I managed to push myself out onto the promenade as the radio shut itself off. I gathered my wits about me and made my way back towards the bow. I made it half way along when suddenly, the scream came again only this time, I could hear a clear vocal tone.

"Help me! Please! Help me!"

I raced over towards the voice. I needed to know what I was dealing with here. As I passed my beacon and reached the bow of the ship, my eyes locked onto something materializing in the fog. In a panic, I slipped and smacked my thigh on the decking. I couldn't move. What I saw was terrifying. I saw the figure of a man appear on the deck. He stood there still as a statue, facing the water. He was dressed in an old, blue, officers uniform. It wasn't from our time period. I looked the man up and down. My jaw dropped. I could only see from his torso down to his knees. His lower legs were not there. He was floating! There's was no denying it. This man... he was... a spirit! A ghost! I felt my heart trying to escape my chest at this point. I wanted to leave with no questions asked. The air began to feel thin at this point. This apparition was somehow manipulating the air around him.

It is said that spirits are known to disrupt the electromagnetic fields that surround us, but I had never known a spirit to change the density of the air like that.

"Oh my god! Oh my god!" I gasped as I picked myself up off the deck. "Please don't see me."

As I turned to leave, the figure began to turn and face me. This was all getting too much for me. What started off as an adventure quickly became the stuff of nightmares. The figure had no face. What I mean by that is that it had no features. It had no mouth, no nose, and no ears. It had no eyes either. The sockets were as black as the shadows themselves. It slowly raised its arm towards me and extended its index finger. Trembling, I looked down to observe it's hand. It was just Skeleton bones with putrefied flesh hanging off of it. The sound of whispers echoed around the figure as it gently glided towards me. I backed off immensely, expecting to fall over the side at any second. I wasn't going to let this figure get me.

"Keep back!" I cried. "Leave me alone!"

The voices grew louder. Eventually, all I could hear was the sound of screams filling my ears. I now had enough. I had to get the hell out of there. I skidded back towards my beacon and activated my thruster pack. I turned back towards the bow one last time only to see him standing there, staring into my soul. I watched on as several other shadow figures appeared behind them. I couldn't make out their features either except for the clothes that they were wearing. I was seeing the spirits of the ship's crew. I activated the thrusters and descended back down towards Thunderbird Four, which was still waiting there for me. As soon as I touched down, I told Gordon to go. I didn't care which direction we'd take just as long as we were as far away from the ship as possible. I quickly reunited with him in the cabin. My face was white as a sheet. We both watched on in complete amazement as the Arcadia vanished before our eyes. It simply drifted into the fog and faded away into nothing. Gordon turned to me and felt the cold sweat that saturated my face.

"What happened up there?" He asked. "You look as if you've just seen a Ghost?"

"I just want to go home," I replied as the tears filled my eyes. "I just... I just..."

I broke down in my brother's arms. I was scared beyond belief and to think that I was there for over an hour! Suddenly, the fog itself began to break apart. It eventually faded away, revealing the glorious sunshine. Thunderbird Two hovered above us just as Virgil's face appeared before us.

" _Thunderbird Four! Finally. I've been trying to reach you. Are you alright? What happened down there?"_

"You wouldn't believe us if we told you," Gordon replied. "We're returning to the Pod. We're going to treat this as a false alarm for now, but Alan and I want to tell John in person when he comes down for dinner."

Virgil just nodded. _"FAB. See you soon."_

Sure enough, we were picked up in the Pod. As we headed back home, I sat there in a daze. I couldn't do anything but replay everything I saw in my mind. I didn't sleep for the next few nights and I didn't ever want to go out on the water ever since. I always thought that Ghost Ships were the stuff of legend not to mention a trope of Hollywood Horror movies, but I had witnessed one for myself and that was more than enough for me.

As soon as we got home, I immediately shared my encounter with John. After dinner, we rendezvoused with Gordon on the balcony. He believed our story and concluded that the message he had received was nothing but a residual sound. The Arcadia obviously transmitted on an older radio band that wasn't used anymore which meant that John was unable to trace it properly, but that wasn't all that we uncovered. Gordon had done some research on the Arcadia herself. She was reported to have sunk more than Twenty Years ago. She had been torpedoed by a strange underwater craft while she was carrying passengers to New York. The report had been filed by the World Aquanaut Security Patrol at the time, who launched a full-scale search and rescue operation. However heartbreakingly, they found no survivors. The ship sank on the same date in the same month as my encounter.

I just stood there feeling the pain of all of those people. It made sense to me now. Those spirits weren't there to harm me. They just wanted to reach out and share their story so that could move on. I guess their deaths were so sudden that they couldn't move on to the other side. To the crew of the Arcadia, I hope you eventually find your way. I hope you all get to rest in peace.


End file.
